Recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a highly promising gene therapy vector for numerous reasons, including its non-pathogenicity and its ability to induce long-term expression of a transgene in multiple target cell types. However, the large scale production of AAV is complex, either involving transient plasmid transfection or co-infection with a helper virus (such as adenovirus), which must eventually be removed from the product to avoid helper-induced pathogenicity. The helper adenovirus approach offers some advantages for large scale production; however, adenovirus must then be eliminated during AAV purification. One widely used procedure for inactivating adenovirus following the production phase involves heating to 55° C. However, this procedure results in the concomitant loss of ˜50% of the active AAV particles.
There is a need in the art for alternative, rapid, robust, and economical methods that selectively inactivate undesired viruses while leaving AAV particles intact. The present invention addresses this need.